Mom, 4 young kids killed in NYC stabbing rampage

Medical Examiner Transport personnel place a loaded body bag into their vehicle Sunday, Oct. 27, 2013 after exiting the residence of a crime scene in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn where five people, including a toddler, were stabbed to death earlier in New York. Emergency responders found three of the victims dead at the residence just before 11 p.m. Saturday. Two others were taken to Brooklyn hospitals, where they were pronounced dead. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

NEW YORK (AP) — A mother and her four young children were killed in a late-night stabbing rampage at their Brooklyn home, and a man has been taken into custody, police said Sunday.

Officers who arrived at the gruesome scene in the Sunset Park section late Saturday found all five victims unconscious and unresponsive, police said.

Two girls, 9-year-old Linda Zhuo and 7-year-old Amy Zhuo, were pronounced dead at the scene, along with the youngest child, 1-year-old William Zhuo. Their brother, 5-year-old Kevin Zhuo, and 37-year-old mother, Qiao Zhen Li, were taken to hospitals, where they also were pronounced dead.

A man identified by police as a person of interest has been taken into custody, but no charges had been filed as of Sunday morning. Police said a knife had been recovered at the scene.

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Bob Madden, who lives nearby, was out walking his dog when he saw a man being escorted from the building by police. He was barefoot, wearing jeans, and “he was staring, he was expressionless,” Madden said.

Fire department spokesman Jim Long said emergency workers responded just before 11 p.m. to a 911 call from a person stabbed at the residence in Sunset Park, a working-class neighborhood of adjoining two-story brick buildings with a large Chinese community.

Neighbor May Chan told the Daily News it was “heartbreaking” to learn of the deaths.

“I always see (the kids) running around here,” Chan said. “They run around by my garage playing. They run up and down screaming.”